Unioto wins one-goal battle against Lynchburg-Clay

DODSONVILLE — Wednesday evening fans of the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs and Unioto Lady Shermans were witness to two teams playing physical, as each team played strong defense in a one-goal game. 

The non-conference battle between the host Lady Mustangs and Lady Shermans was scoreless at halftime, and the first — and only goal — was scored with 24:12 left in regulation by UHS as sophomore Indie Lambert put the ball into the back of the net.

“This game was almost a carbon copy of last year,” LCHS head coach Dennis West said. “Last year they hit a shot from about the same spot as last year on the other end of the field to win 1-0. We struggled last year to get the ball into the net, and we struggled this year to get the ball into the net. 

“How many opportunities have we had all year long? We have bad habits of holding onto the ball one dribble or one step too long, and it is killing us. We played with Unioto OK, but I don’t know how many times we had the ball in front of the net and didn’t finish. We have a young team, and we are struggling to find our identity.”

Though Unioto scored the lone goal, the Lady Mustangs had plenty of chances to score goals of their own, but it just wasn’t their night, as shots were just a bit off from reaching the back of the net. 

The first half was a complete defensive battle, with both offenses unable to reach the scoreboard, though each team had opportunities. One of the bigger stops in the first half was Unioto keeper sophomore Jilian Mathey making a big stop to keep LCHS scoreless in a one-on-one opportunity with 8:33 left in the first half. Mathey finished with nine saves in the non-conference contest. 

LC keeper Caitlyn Collins also made a big stop to keep the Lady Shermans from scoring a goal with 2:32 left on the scoreboard in the first half as she totaled three saves for the first half and nine for the game.

The second half, following the Unioto goal, LCHS had a direct kick stopped by the defense of Unioto, at 12:57, and the Lady Mustangs had corner kick opportunities at 12:20, then again at around the 6:00 mark. 

Lynchburg-Clay now stands at 2-1 overall, while Unioto improves to 2-1 this season. 

“We had a sophomore, two freshmen and a junior on our back line for the entire game,” West said. “Lily Layne is one of the best defenders I’ve had for a long time, and she’s just a sophomore and plays like a senior. We had Addy Cordrey back there tonight due to a player being sick, and she’s played there from time to time and she was lights out tonight. She was really solid for us. 

“The outside pressure we had Riley Markey, Carlee Schoultheis, Kami Collins and Everleigh Barry. We just kept rotating the four first year players back there, and they did a good job.”

West also talked about his offense and how work needs to be done.

“We are struggling to get any kind of offense going,” West said. “We worked on some of the weaknesses we thought we identified on Monday, and worked on them Tuesday. Some of them were better, but right now it is a struggle.”

Next for Lynchburg-Clay is a non-conference game on Saturday, Aug. 23 against Marietta at 1 p.m. at LCHS. 

BOX SCORE
UHS      0 1 — 1 
LCHS    0 0 — 0